Chapter 135 The man behind the curtain
Chapter 135 The man behind the curtain
Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Five: The Man Behind the Curtain
Nobody spoke for several seconds after Dominic’s revelation.
The underground vault felt colder than before.
He wasn’t just saying that Alexander Reed had a son.
He was saying that the mysterious Subject Zero—the child who had terrified Alexander himself—might be the same person.
And if that was true, then everything we thought we understood about the Founders was incomplete.
Jonathan was the first to recover.
“How do you know him?”
Dominic kept staring at the screen.
“I met him twice.”
His voice sounded distant.
Like he was remembering something he wished he could forget.
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
Nina folded her arms.
“Start talking.”
For once, Dominic didn’t argue.
He looked exhausted.
Completely exhausted.
“The first meeting happened in Geneva.”
Gabriel immediately looked alarmed.
“You actually met him?”
Dominic nodded.
“Only briefly.”
“What was his name?”
Dominic laughed humorlessly.
“That’s the problem.”
Everyone frowned.
“What do you mean?” Ruth asked.
“He uses different names.”
That wasn’t encouraging.
Not at all.
“He changes identities every few years. Companies. Passports. Records.”
Elias frowned.
“That’s not impossible for someone rich.”
“No,” Dominic agreed. “But most rich people don’t erase entire versions of themselves.”
Silence followed.
Because that was different.
Very different.
Dominic pointed toward the screen.
“The name you’re seeing is one of at least six identities.”
Jonathan zoomed into the file.
The alias displayed on-screen was Nathan Hale.
A completely ordinary name.
The kind that disappeared into crowds.
The kind nobody remembered.
Which suddenly felt intentional.
Gabriel leaned closer to the terminal.
“Can you open his file?”
Jonathan clicked.
The document expanded.
Everyone crowded around the screen.
Age: Unknown.
Current Location: Unknown.
Legal Identity: Unknown.
Status: Active.
There was almost nothing there.
Which was somehow more frightening than a detailed profile.
“That’s it?” Natasha asked.
Jonathan scrolled.
“There has to be more.”
Then another section appeared.
A list of corporations.
Investment groups.
Research foundations.
Charities.
Private security firms.
The list seemed endless.
My stomach tightened.
“He owns all of these?”
“Controls them,” Dominic corrected.
“Not necessarily owns.”
The distinction didn’t make me feel any better.
Gabriel’s expression grew darker with every line.
“Oh God.”
There it was again.
That phrase.
I was beginning to hate it.
“What now?” Clara asked.
Gabriel pointed toward several organizations.
“I know these names.”
Silence.
“You do?”
He nodded.
“Three of them helped fund Project Lazarus.”
The room froze.
“What?”
Gabriel continued scanning.
“Two funded Founder operations before that.”
A pause.
Then:
“And one was linked to Henry’s offshore accounts.”
The implications hit all at once.
The Founders hadn’t disappeared.
The money had simply moved.
The structures had changed.
The names had changed.
But the influence remained.
Like a disease changing shape to avoid detection.
Nina looked toward Dominic.
“Did you know?”
“Some of it.”
“Some?”
Dominic rubbed his temples.
“He always operated separately.”
The room remained silent.
Then he added quietly:
“Even Henry kept his distance.”
That got everyone’s attention.
Henry Blackwell trusted almost nobody.
The idea that he deliberately kept distance from someone was unsettling.
“What happened at the second meeting?” Liam asked.
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“I refused him.”
Nobody spoke.
Dominic continued.
“He offered me a position.”
Gabriel immediately understood.
“You mean succession.”
Dominic nodded.
The vault became very quiet.
Because that explained a lot.
Too much.
“You were supposed to replace Henry,” Clara realized.
“No.”
Dominic looked toward her.
“I was supposed to replace everyone.”
A chill swept through the room.
The arrogance of that statement would have sounded absurd from anyone else.
From Dominic, it sounded plausible.
“He thought I was the future.”
His voice carried no pride.
Only disgust.
“I thought he was insane.”
“Good,” Natasha muttered.
For once, nobody disagreed.
Jonathan suddenly stopped scrolling.
“Wait.”
Everyone turned.
“What now?”
His eyes widened.
“I found photographs.”
The screen changed.
A collection of images appeared.
Security footage.
Conference photos.
Charity events.
Private meetings.
Most were blurry.
Poor quality.
Difficult to identify.
Then one image appeared clearly.
And every person in the room froze.
The man looked ordinary.
That was the frightening part.
No scars.
No intimidating appearance.
No dramatic presence.
Mid-forties, maybe.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
Simple suit.
The kind of person you’d pass in an airport and never remember.
“That’s him?” Ruth whispered.
Dominic nodded.
“One of his identities.”
The photograph felt wrong somehow.
Not because of what it showed.
Because of what it didn’t.
He looked normal.
Completely normal.
Yet this was apparently the man who terrified Alexander Reed.
The man Henry Blackwell avoided.
The man Eleanor spent decades preparing for.
The man hiding behind multiple identities and global corporations.
A predator disguised as background noise.
Then Jonathan opened another image.
This one showed the man standing beside a young woman.
My stomach dropped immediately.
Because I recognized her.
“So do I.”
Maya whispered the words before I could.
Clara stepped closer.
Then froze.
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“No.”
The woman in the photograph was Eleanor Blackwell.
Younger.
Maybe twenty years younger.
But unmistakably Eleanor.
The room exploded.
“What?”
“When was this taken?”
“Why was she with him?”
Questions flew from every direction.
Jonathan checked the file details.
Then looked horrified.
“Three years ago.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Three years ago.
Not thirty.
Not twenty.
Three.
Long after everyone thought Eleanor had disappeared from Founder operations.
Long after she supposedly vanished from the game.
Gabriel looked genuinely stunned.
“That’s impossible.”
But the photograph remained.
Unchanged.
Undeniable.
Three years ago.
Eleanor and Subject Zero standing together.
Speaking.
Meeting.
Planning.
Something.
Clara’s eyes filled with tears.
“She found him.”
Nobody answered.
Because everyone was thinking the same thing.
She found him.
And she never told anyone.
Not Gabriel.
Not Clara.
Not Liam.
Nobody.
Which meant she had a reason.
A very important reason.
Jonathan opened the final attachment.
A scanned document appeared.
Short.
Only one page.
A report written by Eleanor herself.
The date matched the photograph.
Three years ago.
The vault fell silent as Jonathan began reading aloud.
“Subject Zero confirmed alive.”
Nobody moved.
“Psychological profile inconsistent with previous projections.”
Gabriel looked confused.
“What does that mean?”
Jonathan kept reading.
Then his face changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“What?”
Nina demanded.
Jonathan swallowed hard.
Then continued.
“Subject displays no interest in power, wealth, or leadership.”
Silence.
That sounded like good news.
Didn’t it?
Then Jonathan read the next line.
And every hope vanished.
“Subject’s primary objective appears to be systemic collapse.”
The room froze.
A chill ran down my spine.
Not power.
Not control.
Not leadership.
Collapse.
The destruction of institutions.
Governments.
Organizations.
Systems.
Everything.
Jonathan continued reading.
His voice becoming quieter with every word.
“Assessment: Subject Zero does not wish to rule the world.”
Nobody breathed.
Then came Eleanor’s final note.
The last sentence on the page.
The sentence that made Gabriel close his eyes.
The sentence that made Dominic look terrified.
The sentence that made me realize our nightmare was only beginning.
Jonathan read it aloud.
“Subject Zero wants to burn it down and build something new from the ashes.”